Recognition For Soldiers Wounded In Afghanistan

The families of the soldiers, as well as Lt.Gen. Tibor Benkõ, Commander, HDF Joint Forces Command, Gen. László Tömböl, MoD Chief of Defence Staff, and Brig.Gen. Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Commander, HDF 5th ’István Bocskai’ Infantry Brigade were also present at the quiet ceremony.

Dr. Imre Szekeres told the soldiers that they have carried out a very serious task and they have done a lot for the prestige and good reputation of the defence forces both at home and in Afghanistan. The minister pointed out that it was difficult to judge at home what the minutes the troops went through meant. "The report I received from your commanders showed that you reacted to the events in a very prepared, serious way, helping each other. I would like to thank you for what you have done for the Republic of Hungary, and for the fact that despite your injuries, you have undertaken to stay abroad with your comrades and come home with the rotation. Those 1,500 soldiers who have served in Afghanistan in the past three and a half years have done a quality job, and so have you. I am confident that with your heroic deed, the objective, that is forcing back terrorism in Afghanistan and guaranteeing the security of Hungary, has come closer," said Dr. Imre Szekeres, who presented the Service Medal ’For Wound’ to the soldiers "as a recognition of their self-sacrificing conduct manifesting in the injuries sustained in connection with military service, as a consequence of hostile activities".

Captain László Lengyel and contracted Corporal Árpád Ferenc Kovács were wounded on February 7, when the convoy of the Hungarian Defence Forces’ Provincial Reconstruction Team was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades in Baghlan province, Northern Afghanistan; the wounded troops were immediately transported to the Kunduz hospital where the corporal received outpatient treatment and surgery was performed on the captain. The two soldiers returned to Hungary with the seventh rotation of the PRT.